Rewind 2024: India’s eventful Paris Olympics 2024 marketing campaign left a bitter style within the mouth

India had an eventful, but a blended run of outcomes on the 2024 Paris Olympics in July-August. So far as India had been involved, the Paris Olympics was a mixture of memorable victories, heartbreaks, the “ought to have beens” and the “may have beens”. When it comes to variety of medals gained, this was India’s second-best Olympics, after the nation’s seven-medal haul on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics three years in the past. But it surely didn’t really feel that means. Why?

Regardless of the excessive expectations this time round as effectively, a gold medal eluded India. If solely Vinesh Phogat had been eligible to play the ladies’s 50kg wrestling ultimate. If solely Neeraj Chopra was totally match sufficient to match the extent of eventual gold medallist, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan.

Nonetheless, the dearth of a gold medal and a wrestling controversy involving Phogat wasn’t the one cause why India endured a bittersweet outing in Paris. These had been additionally because of the fourth-place finishes — six fourth-place finishes in complete. Had these fourth-place finishes been transformed into medals, India would have completed with a dozen Olympic medals, if no more. As soon as once more, yet one more “if solely” second.

Arjun Babuta, Mirabai Chanu and the archery blended workforce pair of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat had been amongst those that completed in that unlucky fourth place however nothing will damage greater than shuttler Lakshya Sen lacking out on a bronze medal. As a result of the 23-year-old from Almora had displayed wonderful kind all through his marketing campaign in Paris solely to falter in the long run. Sen additionally had the prospect to create historical past by turning into the primary Indian males’s shuttler to win an Olympic medal. However his loss to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia was disheartening, and an elbow harm he picked up in the course of the recreation additional diminished his probabilities.

It’s not simply Sen who endured a disappointing outing amongst Indian shuttlers. PV Sindhu was a medal hopeful earlier than the event however misplaced within the Spherical of 16, whereas the lads’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had been knocked out within the quarter-finals. There have been a number of gamers who had been real medal contenders, however this was a story of missed alternatives for Indian shuttlers.

A thousand causes to have a good time for Manu Bhaker, Indian hockey workforce wins one other bronze

Not all the things was gloom and doom for India in Paris. Shooter
Manu Bhaker, who had suffered a pistol malfunction on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,
had a thousand causes to have a good time in Paris. By profitable bronze medal in ladies’s 10m air pistol occasion, Manu ended a 12-year wait as she grew to become the primary Indian shooter since 2012 to win a medal on the Olympics.

She later added one other bronze, this time within the blended workforce 10m air pistol occasion after partnering with Sarabjot Singh.

The India males’s hockey workforce, led by Harmanpreet Singh, too had a number of causes to have a good time. Whereas Harmanpreet and Co would have needed to offer
outgoing goalkeeper PR Sreejesh a golden farewell, their bronze medal win, a second consecutive third-place end for them within the Olympics, was no imply feat. In any case, India even managed to edge previous Tokyo Olympics silver medallists Australia 3-2, beating the Aussies on the Olympics for the primary time since 1972.

Vinesh Phogat’s dream marketing campaign turns into heartbreak

Wrestler Phogat had all the things in her to win an elusive Olympic gold medal for her nation. The 12 months 2023 was a troublesome one off the mat, with the wrestlers’ protest in opposition to the then-Wrestling Federation  of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. And whereas Phogat would have been prepared for even harder challenges on the mat this 12 months, nothing would have ready for what was to come back in Paris.

Sure, she did the unthinkable by reaching the ultimate of the ladies’s 50 kg wrestling class. However, because it seems, even being 100 grams obese on the day of the ultimate can turn into against the law of kinds, a lot in order that she was disqualified. And
even an attraction with the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a doable joint-silver medal couldn’t assist Phogat, who introduced her retirement from the game within the aftermath of controversy. This was one other a kind of “what if” moments for India in Paris.

There was nonetheless one thing for India to smile about in wrestling, with Aman Sehrawat profitable a bronze medal in males’s freestyle wrestling class (57 kg).

Silver lining for Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra was the one medallist for India in monitor and subject occasions. A gold, nonetheless, was not meant to be for the Tokyo Olympics champion, who had been affected by a recurring groin harm. That harm was evident from Neeraj’s throws and having mentioned that, he managed to clear only one authorized throw, that of 89.45m all through the ultimate spherical. But, that was sufficient for the Haryana-based athlete
to clinch a silver medal.

“That’s large from Arshad Nadeem!” 💪

Take a look at the highlights from the epic males’s javelin battle between Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra, because the athlete from Pakistan gained gold with an Olympic document throw of 92.97m. 🤯#Paris2024 @Paris2024 @WorldAthletics @NOCPakistan pic.twitter.com/YBeLAcl0Al

— The Olympic Video games (@Olympics) August 20, 2024

Chopra was on the receiving finish of issues this time round, as he needed to watch Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem set a brand new Olympic document with a throw of 92.97m and end on high of the rostrum within the course of.